Phillis Wheatley: Genius, Poet, and Pioneer in the Face of Slavery
From The Observatory
Phillis Wheatley is one of the most important figures in early American history and literature. Born around 1753 in West Africa, she was kidnapped as a child, forced onto a slave ship, and brought to Boston. Purchased by the Wheatley family, she was given the name Phillis, after the ship that carried her. Although she was enslaved, the Wheatleys encouraged her education. Phillis learned to read and write quickly, and by her early teens, she was composing poetry that appeared in local newspapers.
Despite the deep prejudice of the time—against her race, gender, age, and status—Wheatley became the first published woman of African descent in 1767. Her 1770 elegy for the famous preacher George Whitefield earned her international attention. After failing to find a publisher in Boston, she traveled to London in 1773, where her book Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was published with the help of influential supporters. Soon after her return to Boston, she was freed.
Wheatley’s poems often drew on Classical themes, Christian ideas, and her pride in her African heritage. She used her writing to comment on freedom, power, and morality. In several poems and letters, she connected her own experience of enslavement with the American colonies’ struggle for liberty, reminding readers that true freedom must include people of African descent. Her 1774 letter to minister Samson Occom openly criticized enslavers, calling them “Modern Egyptians.”
Though she hoped the American Revolution would end slavery, Wheatley did not live to see major progress. She married John Peters, a free Black man, but the couple faced poverty, and she died in 1784 at about age 31.
Wheatley became the first international literary celebrity of African descent, inspiring other early Black writers. Although critics once dismissed her work, she is now recognized as a founder of African American literature and a pioneering voice for freedom and human dignity.
Read the full article “Phillis Wheatley: Genius, Poet, and Pioneer in the Face of Slavery” by Vincent Carretta
🔭 This summary was human-edited with AI-assist.
